Flames of Ash
by thedauntlessonfire
Summary: An alternative story of DIvergent adding a few characters. It is how Karter feels about the system of Factions, how he has to learn what and where to start to go. Sorry about the first summary.


The Pit is crowded today, it always is on days like this. Today is the Choosing Ceremony for the Factions' sixteen years olds. Every screen is casting the Ceremony, you can feel all the tension and excitement in the air. I let out a yawn, it's boring here since I can't ever go to the Ceremonies. Hal's eyes skim across my face, she is obviously telling me to shut up.

Usually Hal and I stay waiting on the roof- the only entrance to the Dauntless Faction. Max, one of the Dauntless leader, is always up there to explain to the remaining initiates, mostly scarce, what to do. Four and Lauren are at the bottom next to the net to announce the jumpers.

Hal taps my shoulder as I take a bite out of my Dauntless Muffin. I direct my eyes to hers.

"That's the last of 'em, Karter," she whispers. "That is our cue." Hal pulls on my arm to get me to stand. I reluctantly stand and finish my muffin with one massive bite.

Haleigh, Hal is what the rest of the Dauntless call her, isn't a girl with lost of height. 5'3" and blond with dark blue eyes. She has a black streak in her eyes, which is the only way she is different from the rest of the Dauntless girls.

Both of us weren't Dauntless from the beginning either. Since I turned 18 a few months ago, this is my second year in Dauntless. My second year away from the Amity. I am also a year older than Hal, so once she saw me leave Amity, the next year, she followed me back.

If we weren't related, maybe we'd be in love, and as weird as that sounds, we're hardly related by blood, so it's... okay?

Hal walks to the hidden elevator that leads to the highest floor- the roof. I follow her as I watch her black nails shift as her fingers move in impatience.

The elevator door opens with a creak and a swift jolt. Most people would think it is not even stable, but we are Dauntless. We take risks.

I want to get out of here, though. I wanted to get out of Amity, I got out, but now, I just wanted to get away from the Factions. Does that make sense? I don't know how it's possible to escape the Factions, but it's sure something to wonder about.

Hal walks quickly into the elevator and I follow behind. I listen to the squeaking of the rope pulling the cart. It reminds me of how my mother jerked the door open when my brother died.

I close my eyes and try to tune out the memory, along with the squeaking. Although I was seventeen when he was murdered, I know who really needed to be killed that day. _Me._

Why is he dead? Why didn't I save him.. What kind of brother am I?

Rye, my brother, was shot while trying to save his pet cat. I told him to leave it. The gunmen weren't even aiming at him, either. They were aiming at me. I am a criminal to the Factions, and they don't even know it. You see, I have been planning strategies to a rebellion for seven years now. I don't tell people this. I told Rye. I loved him, and now he's gone. _All my fault._

The elevator door opens again and Hal steps out. I follow behind her again, but slowly. I press the button to send the elevator back down. My fingers rub the cool metal of the button. I could live Factionless to spare myself grief, but what's the use? I guess I have to just cope with this tragic system.

After a few minutes of singing with Hal and thinking about life in Dauntless, we can finally hear the train booming closer and closer. I watch a swarm of Dauntless leaders jump down, and after a minutes passes, the Dauntless-born jump, as well. I wait to see what kind of Transfers we have this year.

Hal taps my shoulder. "You alright?" she asks. I manage to give her a half-nod and cross my arms across my chest.

A few Transfers jump down. Two Abnegation, six Candor, four Erudite, and one Amity. I shudder, remembering when I was the one Amity in my initiate class. Three Transfers did not make it on the roof, it happens every year.

I look at the Amity girl, so beautifully out of place from the other Factions; alone. _We're the same_, I try to give her a message from my mind, but of course it won't work. Her waves of blond hair fall down her back and shoulders carelessly like a river, while her eyes, bluer than the sea, meet the ground in a neutral presence. She is not tall, but she's not short. 5'6" or 5'7".

I hear Max give his little talk and how they have to jump off the roof. He doesn't say it, but implies it. Little do the initiates know that there is a net at the bottom.

A Candor boy steps up first and jumps as if he doesn't care about anything going around him. _He had to get away._

Four's voice booms throughout the bottom of the cavern to the roof: "First jumper- Nando!" A whoop of Dauntless cheers follow. After that, more and more Transfers and Dauntless-born jump, but I keep my eyes on the Amity girl.

Her hands are moving up and down her arms in nervousness. Her head moves, and she looks at me. We make eye contact. My heart pounds out of my chest and she looks away as if she felt the shock too, she must have. _Shit..._

I stuff my hands in my pockets and Four's voice goes through the cave many times, until the Amity and I are the last two on the roof, since Max and Hal already left.

"C'mon," I yell as I walk towards the ledge. "You're the last one, just jump. I'm not leaving until you do."

She glares at me, the corners of her mouth stiffen and her eyebrows ridged down. "Oh, so you're one of the 'tough' bad boys, I'm guessing?" she shoots back.

My face flushes and I stare at her eyes. "You want me to be sensible? Okay, please jump, sweetheart." I spit at her. "By the way, the red doesn't match your eyes."

She laughs. "Not much for first impressions, I see."

"You too," I argue.

She jumps, and I stand her, my face still flushed. What was _that_?

"Last jumper, as brave as them all- Ash!"

Ash. Is that short for something?

Ash.


End file.
